When MOOCs first emerged, it was seen as a major disruptor to formal higher education. Yet now more than just education, it threatens to discomfort the world of corporate learning. Some findings can be cited out of this recent development. Companies can tap MOOCs’s innovative learning model for employees’ development plus use the platform to attract quality new recruits. Companies are using MOOCs to create new range of open learning tools. Major challenges for MOOCs expanding further within corporates have been cited as –budget, limited skills and security issues. Those working with respective corporate learning departments have proven to be top obstacles.

Winning over and then retaining customers is trickier now than ever before. The digital world has flattened information flow and consumers are well aware of competitor product characteristics. In such a scenario there are certain activities, the following of which tend to convert likes to leads in the world of digital marketing. There must be a story which harks on brand personality. Testimonials by customers and case studies developed by them on firm are vital. Certain offers must be launched frequently but with limited time inducements only. Extremely pushy sales pitch does not work now, instead soft conversions do.

Customer listening sounds intrusive yet is a powerful tool to gauge customers’ insights when performed ethically. It involves monitoring discussion forums, collecting data about own firm, scouring followers for their key influencers and analyzing conversations in areas of interest among target audience. There are some strategies for effective customer listening. Social listening is one such where mention of brand or firm can be tracked. Online surveys are always useful though more for quantitative rather than qualitative research. There is also the concept of list building which works best with Twitter where lists can be built about organizations and news stories to follow. A core list for key demographics needs to be built to monitor what topics are trending for the firm’s target audience. 

The Lakeland Health centre in Michigan state of USA, can be cited as a perfect example of a place where innovation occurred due to warmth of the heart rather than technically detailed plans. The health centre was very well run by all accounts yet was not performing very well in public polls, and thus the CEO felt the need to innovate. He asked all employees to function with empathy. Thus at every level, employees started developing personal touch with patients admitted. The centre couldn’t scale up much financially, yet showed a remarkable turnaround as patients started giving much better feedback. SO while processes and operations were always smooth, what really turned the tide in the favour of the health centre was the human touch and empathy which troubled patients could now feel with the staff of the place.

A spate of new technological applications has meant that mobile phones not form crucial link in CRM. Mobile advertising has now surged five times in volume terms. Geo-positioning has meant that exact locations of interested clients can be tracked post listening to conversations on social media. Advertisements and coupons can then be placed and timed as per exact requirement. Cookies further help in this. One can even gauge sources from where potential customers gather information. In the future, this is set to rise with business developments in gamification, m-learning, crowd-sourcing, mobile visualization and behavioral modeling.                 

Innovations all originate from conversations. While there may not be any fixed formulae, there exists an understood art of strategic conversation which if tapped properly can create such ideas out of the right conversations. A strong vision is needed for it, but solutions must be encouraged to come from employees. Structured forums for such discussions help. Crucially, employees must feel empowered. Certain days may be designated as ‘innovation days’. Contests and challenges may be developed among employees. They must get the right platform to voice their innovation. Strategy reviews must be held frequently and all meetings must be conducted within the framework of T-shaped conversations. Overall the entire philosophy of the organization must be chaordic- chaos plus order. In this way ideas are generated by employees at all levels and dissipated through the formal hierarchy.

It is an oft repeated cliché that successful organizations are an outcome of employee motivations. There are some ways in which employees’ enthusiasm, loyalty and creativity may be tapped. To do so, the organization must be structured bottom-up. The values quoted in fancy mission and vision documents must be replicated into deeds. Change must forever be embraced in processes. The leaders must be prepared for existing norms to be altered. The employees must be encouraged to create for the future and not lament the past. And all these points must be tied up together by the various stakeholders working in tandem.